Another Jailbreak In Minna Prison, Inmates Set Free

The new wave of jailbreak in Nigeria is troubling. Less than 24 hours after President Goodluck Jonathan replaced Aminu A Suley, acting comptroller general of prison, with Ezenwa Ekpendu as substantive controller-general of prisons, another incident of jailbreak has been reported.

NewsWireNGR recalls that scores of inmates escaped from the Ado-Ekiti federal prison in Ekiti state, after armed men invaded the facility. Earlier on November 3, 144 out of the 145 prisoners in Koton-Karfe prison in Kogi state, also escaped during a jailbreak.

The latest incident is the second in the spate of one week, and at least the fourth in two months. Armed men were said to have stormed Minna Medium Prison in Niger state around 4:00pm on Saturday, releasing about 270 inmates and carting away several weapons.

The attackers reportedly overpowered the prison officials, who initially attempted to put up resistance. When contacted, Ope Fatinikun, public relations officer of the Nigerian prison service, gave a tacit confirmation but declined to comment, saying: “We are still taking stock. I would not want to comment now because I don’t have complete information.”